Chapter 14: Soulbait and Subjugation
He didn't need an army.
He needed believers with broken chains and bloodstained hands.
And now, with a Tribunal spy singing hymns in his temple, Kael Draven prepared to escalate. Not with open rebellion. Not with swords.
But with whispers.
With bait.
Chaos Temple – Below the Rot Lotus Altar
Yue Lin knelt at the blood-pool of cleansing, her once-pristine robes dyed in rust and shame. Ghost Fingers tattooed glyphs onto her soul, while Fodder read aloud from the "Scripture of Strategic Seduction."
Kael stood above them all.
"Your mission is simple," he said. "You'll return to the Tribunal."
"Tell them you escaped."
"Tell them I'm building a sect of sin."
"Let their fear become my recruitment poster."
Yue Lin bowed her head. No hesitation.
"I live to serve the flame in your mind, my lord."
Kael nodded.
"Good."
"Now go make them burn with worry."
Meanwhile: Upper Realm – Tribunal Hall of Echoes
Elder Sky-Watcher gasped as Yue Lin's beacon reignited.
"She survived!"
"She escaped Kael's temple!"
She arrived barefoot, bloody, shaking… and flawless.
They believed every lie she fed them.
"He's breeding a demon army."
"He's seducing immortals with forbidden techniques."
"He calls himself the Hand That Unwrites Heaven."
The Tribunal paled.
"We need a purge."
"Summon the Celestial Cleanser."
Chaos System Notification
[New Opponent Incoming: Celestial Cleanser – Rank: Heaven Grade Enforcer]
[Estimated Arrival: 3 Days]
[Optional Objectives: Convert / Kill / Break for Chaos Bonus]
Kael smirked.
"They send a sword wrapped in silk."
"I'll turn it into a tool wrapped in chains."
Three Days Later – Midnight in Hollow Bone
The sky split again.
But this time, no grand chariot.
Just a man.
The Celestial Cleanser descended in white robes soaked with divine glyphs, carrying a blade forged from 99 soul cores.
He didn't announce himself.
He didn't ask permission.
He entered the sect and killed four disciples in passing.
"I come not to warn. I come to erase."
Kael waited in the Dream Spiral Courtyard.
The Duel Begins
Kael and the Cleanser faced each other under moonlight.
"You're filth," the Cleanser said.
"An infection in the Realm."
Kael cracked his neck.
"I am not the infection."
"I am the antibody the heavens forgot."
"And you?"
"You're just bleach pretending to be purpose."
The Cleanser attacked.
A wave of white fire flooded the courtyard. Disciples screamed. Statues cracked.
Kael didn't move.
[Chaos Authority: Void Reflection Activated]
The fire turned. Reversed. Spiraled into a black vortex.
The Cleanser's eyes widened.
"Impossible—"
Kael appeared behind him.
"You think righteousness is power."
"But power… is freedom unchained."
He stabbed his hand into the Cleanser's back—into his soul matrix.
Nightmare Domination Ritual Begins
Kael dragged the Cleanser into a soul-hallucinatory state.
They stood atop a battlefield of fallen gods.
Kael sat on a throne of ribs.
The Cleanser knelt, chained by his own guilt.
"You follow orders."
"I give them."
"That makes you prey."
The Cleanser screamed as memory after memory shattered. Kael sliced through his love, his beliefs, his triumphs.
"Serve me," Kael whispered.
"Or become a hymn no one sings."
System Prompt
[Chaos Points +100]
[New Trait Gained: Celestial Corruptor – Able to infect divine minds with false convictions.]
[Celestial Cleanser Loyalty: 1% → 12% → 41% → 91%]
"I am yours," the Cleanser said, kneeling.
"My blade now carves your will."
Kael nodded.
"Then rise."
"We've got heavens to ruin."
Meanwhile: Tribunal Reaction
"Contact lost?"
"He's not reporting in?"
"Why does his soul beacon now pulse… in reverse?"
A pause.
"We lost another."
Final Scene: The Growing Army
Kael now stood before his disciples.
Beside him: Yue Lin, the Celestial Cleanser, Ghost Fingers, Fodder, Cinderlight, and Moss-Faced Girl.
"We are no longer survivors."
"We are no longer rebels."
"We are rewriters."
"And when this realm begs for mercy…"
"We'll give them silence."